


Fiction is His Escape

by AFlameThatFlickersOutTooSoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coran is a writer, Gen, everyone is human, paladins of old, set on earth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-06-14 08:23:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15384687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFlameThatFlickersOutTooSoon/pseuds/AFlameThatFlickersOutTooSoon
Summary: “King Alfor of planet Altea finds the comet on the planet ruled by Emperor Zarkon.” At that point they were all so used to Coran’s habit of making up stories that no one interrupted him.~I wrote it for a challenge on Amino and I’m also putting it here.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron.

Sure, they call him Coranic because it rhymes with mechanic, but he’s always loved writing more. To have story flow from his fingertips. To weave words into a tapestry of ideas.

He loves the freedom of it. He can write about love or heartbreak. Anger or serenity. Dreams or nightmares. This world or another. Fiction is his escape. It’s a way to deal with his problems in a way that’s detached. He can work through them as someone else. It helps him find the solutions.

He’s been working on one particular piece since he was eleven. A story about mechanical lions that defend the universe from harm. Characters have circled in and out. The first people to fly the lions were his friends- Alfor, Zarkon, Blaytz, Trigel, and Gyrgan. He and Alfor had met them soon after moving to America. The only ones who hadn’t been scared off by Alfor’s naturally white hair, or the unusual pointedness of both of their ears, or the blue marks they’d both been drawing in their cheekbones since they were children, or the fact that they were the new kids with the weird accents, or their incredibly unusual names. (Though Zarkon, Blaytz, Trigel, and Gyrgan couldn’t say much about unusual names.) They were actually brought together by their names. You can find ways to bond over the strangest things when you’re desperate for friends.

Alfor was the original one to come up with the lions- Coran just brought them to the page. He distinctly remembered the day Alfor had first drawn the lions in his sketchbook. He and Coran had been walking together to Zarkon’s house when they’d found it. The thing that started it all. Oddly enough, it was a rock. A beautiful rock, but still a rock. It was a jet black with grooves carving their way through it like rivers. Coran hadn’t seen anything special about it, but Alfor has stopped to pick it up. He’d slipped it into his bag without further explanation, and they continued on their way. They were the first to arrive at Zarkon’s house. Immediately after entering Zarkon’s room, Alfor sat down at the desk and set his rock on the table. Zarkon frowned. Whether it was because Alfor was putting a random rock on the table or because Alfor- who he’d only known a month of so- had just waltzed into his room and made himself at home, Coran wasn’t sure.

“What’s that?” He moved to pick it up, but Alfor slapped his hand away. 

“Don’t touch it, Zarkon. It is power greater than we’ve ever seen before.” 

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a rock.”

“Oh, but it’s so much more than that. It’s an idea.” Alfor pulled his sketchbook and pencils from his bag, and set them on the desk too.

Zarkon glanced at Coran, who shrugged. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the house. Zarkon shuddered. 

“That’s probably Blaytz, be right back.”

Turns out it was Blaytz, as he came bursting in a few moments later. Quickly (and more quietly) followed by Trigel and Gyrgan, then by Zarkon, who closed the door behind.

“What’s new?” Blaytz all but yelled. He wasn’t trying to be loud, he just was.

“Alfor has found a rock more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen before.” Zarkon answered.

“Let me guess, it’s because it’s given him an idea.”

“Yep.”

Blaytz tried to lean over Alfor’s shoulder to look at the drawing, but Alfor snapped the sketchbook shut.

“Blaytz. Be patient. I’ll show it to you when it’s done.”

Blaytz groaned, but left him alone. He collapsed onto Zarkon’s bed.

“Coran. Feel free to sit down.” He gestured at the couch.

They quickly fell into the banter that so often occupied their time together.

“I’m just saying, if I had a kid I would name it Kolivan!”

“Blaytz. Why would you name your child Kolivan?”

“It’s a cool name!”

“It is not a cool name.”

“Yes it-“

“Done!” Alfor announced, swiveling around in his chair.

“You going to let us see now?”

“Yeah.” He flipped the sketchbook around so the page was facing the direction of the others. 

Even at a young age, Alfor had always been a brilliant artist. The sketch he was showing them almost seemed alive.

“It’s a lion.” Zarkon said.

“It’s a giant mechanical space lion, but yeah.”

Gyrgan frowned. “How did you get that,” he gestured at the drawing, “from that?” He pointed at the rock.

Alfor grinned, his eyes lighting up. “It’s a magical comet that’s crashed down on a planet far far away. Someone finds it and uses it to build a giant lion.”

“Five lions.” Coran cut in.

“What?”

“King Alfor of planet Altea finds the comet on the planet ruled by Emperor Zarkon.” At that point they were all so used to Coran’s habit of making up stories that no one interrupted him. “Alfor and Coran transport the comet to the palace of Emperor Zarkon where Alfor uses it to create five lions. The black lion, the red lion, the blue lion, the yellow lion, and the green lion. Though, King Alfor knows the secrets of Altean Alchemy. He accidentally gives the lions life, or at least something close to it. The lions now have personalities and their energy must match up with the energy of whoever pilots them. Alfor and Zarkon bring their friends and each one of them pilots a lion. Zarkon in black, Alfor in red, Gyrgan in yellow, Trigel in green, and Blaytz in blue. Together they pilot the lions to defend the universe.”

“Wait, but what about you?” Alfor asked.

“Oh, my dear friend. I wish I could become a pilot but alas, it’s not for me. I must stick to being a simple mechanic.”

Everyone stared at him for a few seconds.

“Are you sure you didn’t plan this out beforehand?” Blaytz asked.

“Yes. Maybe the comet is magical but this,“ he tapped his temple, “is the real magic.”

~

Eventually the lions were named Voltron. They could merge together to create a warrior. Alfor’s drawings got more detailed, adding special qualities to each individual lion.

Voltron because just another part of normal. It was an ever changing, ever expanding world. Zarkon became the ruler of planet Daibazaal, home to the galra.

New characters got added as new people came into their lives. Alfor’s girlfriend Rosaline became the queen of Altea. Blaytz flirted with lots of boys, but only ever really fell for a few of them. One of these boys was Meeka, who became a galra servant. The two of them were the center of an epic tale of forbidden romance between different classes. Honerva was an Altean scientist studying the comet and the rift it had created. She later became the empress of Daibazaal.

All was well.

Until Zarkon betrayed them.

With others who they’d been friends with then broken apart from, Coran had simply edited the story to make them villains or taken them out altogether. But this... this was too much. He’d have to do something different... a story of infighting. Of a group broken down from the inside. It broke his heart to write. To write the former heroes as villains. But he did it. He wasn’t even sure why he kept writing. Maybe he was just so used to it he couldn’t stop.

Despite the bad, there were good things to write about too. He wrote about Blaytz and Meeka’s adopted son- he was destined to be a rebel soldier. He wrote about Alfor and Roseline’s child Allura, who would be one of the most powerful Alteans, powerful enough to enter the mystical realm of Oriande where she would learn Altean alchemy. He even wrote about Lotor, the future emperor of the Galra.

He stopped writing after the fire. The fire that Zarkon started. The fire that killed Alfor and Rosaline.

He tucked his writing away. Notebooks from over the years. He tucked them away and tried to forget. He still wrote occasionally, but not as often as he used to. It pained him, to see all the work go to waste, but he couldn’t keep going.

Fiction wasn’t an escape anymore, not when it was so close to reality.

~

Allura was going through the attic when she found Voltron.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura was just trying to find some of her father’s old books. She never found them, but she may have stumbled upon so much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I decided to continue this after all. I honestly wasn’t planning to, but then I did.
> 
> I know Allura’s mom has an actual name now, but I called her Rosaline in the first part so I’m sticking with that.
> 
> It’s kinda short and kinda bad and I might not ever continue past this but I like the concept.

Allura was going through the attic when she found Voltron. 

She was looking for an old stack of books she’d put in a box somewhere for safekeeping. Some of her father’s old art books. She’d kept them in the attic for years because she had no artistic ability herself. 

It wasn’t an easy decision, but she’d eventually decided to give them to Keith as a sort of peace offering. He’d get more use out of them then she would. Also, things were getting awkward in their friend group with her and Keith refusing to talk to one another. Even Lance was having trouble filling the awkward silences.

Allura knew she should apologize—it wasn’t Keith’s fault his mother worked for Zarkon’s company, especially considering she left right after he was born—and the books seemed like the perfect way to do it.

Unfortunately, Allura has underestimated the amount of stuff that had gathered in the attic. Photo albums, foam swords, old typewriters, boxes of crayons, loose nails, empty alcohol bottles, string lights, broken clocks, stacks and stacks of boxes. If you could name it, it was probably there. Except the art books, which were nowhere to be found. 

She’d been up there for hours, and was still having no luck.

Eventually it turned into a game of Let’s See How Many Actually Kinda Useful Things Are In The Attic. As it turns out, quite a lot.

She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. It was a large attic and she knew Coran hadn’t been up here since Alfor died—too many memories.

She ended up running around the attic, wearing her mother’s old clothes and jewelry. Allura loved and respected her mother, but even she had to admit Rosaline’s fashion sense had been a bit outrageous. The woman owned tiaras. She wore exquisite formal dresses on the regular.

_Though I suppose my father wasn’t the most normal person either,_ Allura thought as she pushed aside a row of tubs to find an actual complete set of armor and swords hanging on the wall. She’d seen foam swords lying around, but these were actual swords.

Allura pulled a notepad out of her bag and added the suit of armor and the swords to the map she was drawing so she would be able to find them again.

_This place is like the room of requirement. I should bring my friends up here sometime._

This thought of her friends brought Allura back to why she’d come up here to begin with.

_Maybe if I can’t find the books I can just give Keith a sword._

~

The longer Allura spent in the attic, the weirder she felt. The attic started feeling like more than an attic. It felt like an alternate reality where things beyond her wildest dreams were possible. 

She caught sight of herself in a chipped mirror and nearly screamed because she thought she was her mother. When she realized it was just her reflection, she calmed down, but even so there was a sort of melancholy in the air. Allura’s parents had died ten years ago. She had been old enough to remember them but young enough to feel like she didn’t know them. Coran told her stories, but it really wasn’t the same. Here, she felt closer to them than ever, surrounded by piles of their things.

Allura sighed and slumped to the floor, still staring in the mirror with tears welling up in her eyes. She crawled forward and pushed the mirror away so she couldn’t see it anymore. Behind it there were stacks of boxes, all marked with the same strange symbol. It was almost like a wide V, but with a mark cut out in the center. 

She staggered to her feet and reached out to touch one. With a grunt she hauled it off of the stack and onto the floor. Dust flew off of the top and settled on the floor. It was sealed with duct tape that she cut off with scissors she’d stashed in her bag. 

When she wrestled the box open, she found stacks of notebooks. The first notebook had, in Coran’s handwriting, “Volume III”. Allura pulled it out of the box to find “Volume IV” under it. And then “Volume V”. In a flurry of movement, she started pulling more boxes down, searching for the first volume. She found it in box number four. She pulled a large pillow over to the boxes, sat down, and began to read.

~

The house was silent when Coran came home from work.

“Allura?” He called through the house. “Are you here?”

When he got no response, he began to move through the house. Everything looked untouched until he got to the door to the attic, which was thrown wide open. 

_Of course she’s up there._

With a sigh, Coran made his way up into the attic. He walked through pathways in the clutter until he finally found Allura. He felt tears prick the corners of his eyes when he caught sight of her. She was wearing one of her mother’s old dresses. Allura always looked strikingly similar to Rosaline but now it was even more evident than usual. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by notebooks. It took Coran a second to realize what they were.

_Voltron._

“Allura.”

Allura startled and snapped the notebook closed.

“H-hey Coran!”

Coran sighed and sat down next to her.

“How much have you read?”

“I’m in Volume II. Alfor’s just figured out why the lions are so unusual. He’s planning to go to Oriande.”

“I see.”

“Are you mad?”

“No. I couldn’t keep these from you forever. I put them here because I thought that I’d never be ready to read them again. And maybe that’s true. But this was a big part of my life, and and your parent’s lives, and I’m glad you found it.”

“Oh.” Allura was silent for a second. “Was Zarkon really like this?”

“Yes. Zarkon and your father were the best of friends.”

“Then why’d he kill him?” Allura’s voice cracked with tears.

“I... I don’t know.” Coran sniffed, and soon they were both crying.

~

“Coran?”

“Yes Allura?”

“I want to reform Voltron.”

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I could continue this if anyone really really likes it?
> 
> ALSO THEY RELEASED THE S7 TRAILER AND I WATCHED A VIDEO OF THE FIRST EPISODE AND IM STILL TRYING TO CONVINCE MYSELF THAT IM NOT DREAMING. I THINK ANYONE WHOS SEEN IT KNOWS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT. SHIRO. IM TALKING ABOUT SHIRO.


End file.
